- “From West Egg came the Poles and the Mulreadys and Cecil Roebuck and Cecil Schoen and Gulick the State senator and Newton Orchid, who controlled Films Par Excellence, and Eckhaust and Clyde Cohen and Don S. Schwartze (the son) and Arthur McCarty, all connected with the movies in one way or another. And the Catlips and the Bembergs and G. Earl Muldoon, the brother to that Muldoon who afterward strangled his wife. Da Fontano the promoter came there, and Ed Legros and James B. (“Rot-Gut”) Ferret and the De Jongs and Ernest Lilly…” (62).
This passage is used to describe the many guests of luxury that attend Gatsby’s numerous parties. The passage is much longer, and has a similar structure throughout. The purpose of this type of syntax is to create a sense of a never-ending list of attendees. By choosing to make run-on sentences, Fitzgerald makes Gatsby’s list of friends attending his parties seem tremendous. Another important form of syntax used in the passage is the use of parenthesis to describe certain aspects of the characters (such as nicknames and affiliations). This is an important form of syntax because it explains why Gatsby invited certain guests and what permits them to belong to the upper class.
- “Standing behind him, Michaelis saw with a shock that she was looking at the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg, which had just emerged, pale and enormous, from the dissolving night. 'God see's everything' repeated Wilson. “That’s an advertisement,” Michaelis assured him. Something made him turn away from the window and look back into the room. But Wilson stood there a long time, his face closed to the window pane, nodding into the twilight” (160).
This passage contains a great deal of symbolism and syntax. By formulating how the conversation between Michaelis and Wilson is written, Fitzgerald can easily create a sullen tone, sprinkled with the symbolism of god’s eyes watching over the situation. Therefore, not only does the syntax have the effect of darkening the situation, it also brings the idea of God and Religion into the text.
I too thought that the passage describing the many guests was an interesting read. Fitzgerald's description of each person, all through just their name, truly gives the reader a visual of the people attending the parties. As I read this excerpt I was imagining the guests and percieved them all to be dressed in elegant clothes, and most likely living on the East Egg. This passage, however, also made me sit back and think of how I was stereotyping each person even though I had never seen a picture of them or met them (obviously). I began to think that Fitzgerald did this on purpose to reveal the same judgemental personality in the readers as his did in his characters.
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